


Stars

by xoleah



Series: Musicals Oneshots [1]
Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:00:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25657825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xoleah/pseuds/xoleah
Summary: Jack Kelly had another girl before Katherine. Whatever happened to her?
Relationships: Jack Kelly/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Musicals Oneshots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1860415
Comments: 1
Kudos: 5





	Stars

There was a reason Jack doubted love at first sight.

He'd had another girl before Katherine.

Her name was July.

She had black hair, blue eyes and a smile that could light up a room. She made him more than an angsty teenager who just so happened to lead a small army of newsboys.

And she was gone.

_A girl led a boy into Central Park at night. She plopped herself down onto the soft grass._

Jack was happy with Katherine. She was sweet, the boys liked her, and her father was beginning to warm up to him. Or so she said.

But he couldn't let go of July.

_He sat down next to her._

She wasn't a newsie. She was a factory girl. Not an heiress, like Katherine. Not even close.

_"What're we doin' here, sweetheart?" He asked._

He had met her one day while selling papers. She had bought a paper from him on her way back from work one day.

_"You'll see. Trust me." She replied, smiling wide._

She sometimes waved to him as she walked by.

_He ruffled her hair, making her laugh. "I trust you."_

One day, he walked with her as she went home. They talked the entire way, about their lives, families, jobs, friends, anything they could.

_She scooted closer to the boy, putting an arm around him._

After a few months, he had asked her on a date. She accepted, and the two went to a show at Medda's theatre. She was delighted to see that Jack had brought a girl with him.

_He pecked her on the forehead. "You're so beautiful right now, you know that?" He said._

Jack and July were a couple for almost a year and half. 

Then something went wrong.

Horribly wrong.

_She pulled his newsie cap over his eyes, giggling. "I know, Jackie."_

It started with coughing. Nothing too bad. People get coughs all the time, after all.

_He took his cap back from her and tossed an arm around her shoulders playfully. He chuckled. "You're a riot, July."_

Then she started coughing blood.

_He kissed her quickly and smiled._

Then the shortness of breath.

_"When will I see what you brought me here for?" He asked._

Then the chest pain.

_"Soon, Jackie."_

Then she came down with pneumonia. 

_"Okay, Miss Mystery." He joked._

The doctors said there was nothing they could do. It wasn't the pneumonia that was causing her symptoms.

_She turned her head to the sky._

It was lung cancer.

_"Look, Jackie. The clouds are clearing."_

She wasn't able to fight it off. It ended up killing her.

He went to her funeral. The boys came too, for they had known July as well. She would come to the lodging house sometimes.

_He looked up._

Jack was heartbroken. He wouldn't eat. He wouldn't sell. He was a shell of himself, if you will. 

Every night for two months, he walked to her favorite spot in Central Park.

She had brought him there many times, but he wouldn't forget the first one.

_She leaned against him, staring at the sky._

He sat down in the same position as that first trip. Looked at the same patch of sky.

_The stars were breathtaking._

Tears filled his eyes as he remembered what she'd said to him that night.

_"My mother used to say that the stars represent everyone we've lost. Everything that's ever died has it's own star."_

Jack searched the sky for one star. The star he'd only noticed in the days since she'd died.

_"So when someone you love dies, a star is added to the sky."_

He found it.

_"When I die, you'll find a star you didn't notice before."_

What was odd was he could only see it from this spot. He could never find it when he looked from anywhere else.

_"Why are we talking about death?" He asked._

He came back to this spot tonight. The first time since he'd met Katherine.

"July," he asked the star out loud, "I met this girl. Her name's Katherine. Now, I'm not trying to replace you, but I feel like... Like I need your permission before I ask her. To marry me, I mean. I know you've been gone for a long time, but it'd only feel right if you approved." He began to cry.

_"I dunno. It's just something my mother used to say."_

"I need a sign. Some sort of sign." He asked the star.

He could've sworn he felt something on his shoulders. An arm, perhaps. But there was nothing there but the air.

_He pulled her in closer._

He saw a streak of light cross over July's star. A shooting star.

_"Thanks for bringing me here, sweetheart."_

He knew that was it. He felt it in his gut. The weight on his shoulders lifted. He heard July's laugh in his head. Saw her wide smile.

Jack smiled. "Thank you, July."

_"The stars are beautiful when you're with someone you love." She responded._


End file.
